Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is set to rejoin the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, giving Mike Babcock a needed boost in the middle as the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes come to town.
Nugent-Hopkins has been out since suffering an undisclosed lower-body injury in the final training camp session three weeks ago. He missed the opener and the first nine games, never making it to the bench in full game-night dress when the Vancouver Canucks visited on Sept.
- That absence also delayed his chase of Kevin Lowe for the all-time Oilers lead in games played.
Now he’s ready to go, and Babcock said the lineup should look a lot healthier down the middle.
“Nuge will be back for the next game so the minutes won’t be out of whack. I’m excited,” said Babcock.
The obvious landing spot is second-line centre, a role that would let Edmonton spread things out a bit after spending much of the first nine games trying to patch together the centre ice behind the top line. Babcock has kept Leon Draisaitl with Connor McDavid for most of the start of the season, and with Jason Dickinson also out, the Oilers have been in survival mode at centre.
“We’re going to be in a way better situation centre-wise,” Babcock said Wednesday, after the team had the day off and no lines were available to view.
That setup would likely push Colton Dach back into the lineup, perhaps at fourth-line centre, while rookie Owen Michaels could remain between Alex Formenton and Mathieu Joseph if Babcock decides not to tinker with the checking line. Nugent-Hopkins, on his 10th different coach with Babcock, has already played 1,031 Oilers games, leaving him six shy of Hall of Famer and former GM Kevin Lowe for the franchise lead.
If he stays healthy, he is projected to move into first place in New Jersey on Nov. 3.
There’s also a wrinkle to how Edmonton could arrange its top six. Nugent-Hopkins has spent far more time on the wing with McDavid and Zach Hyman in recent years than he has in the middle, but he has said he’s comfortable handling both roles.
“I feel at this point, I’m used to playing both, so I think there’s going to be times, no matter what, that things are going to be switched up. I don’t think it’s a huge transition,” Nugent-Hopkins said in camp.
If Babcock keeps McDavid, Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin together, then Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins become the obvious anchors of a second scoring line. Kasperi Kapanen could fill the left side there, especially after getting top-unit power-play time before Hyman returned from injury. Matt Savoie is another possibility when he comes back from his own lower-body injury next month.
Babcock also made his point after Tuesday’s game against Minnesota, when he said McDavid, Draisaitl and Podkolzin were outplayed five-on-five by the Wild’s top line of Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy.
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Rick Bowness has already leaned into the clubs uneven start with pointed public criticism, then recently backed off the tone a bit as the search for answers continues. Garland sits at the center of that search, because the Blue Jackets still want to squeeze more out of him than they have so far, even as his place in the lineup keeps shifting and the fit remains unsettled. For Canucks fans watching from afar, it is an early reminder that a trade meant to reset one story can take time before it starts writing a new one. [Read more 🡒]